Unexpectedly, Sri Lanka took the lead in the series 1-0 after defeating India, the top-ranked ODI team in the world, in the second series match in Colombo. India now has the difficult challenge of tying the series with one game left to prevent an embarrassing loss to Sri Lanka in the ODI series. This is Sri Lanka’s opportunity to write a new chapter in their history, as they haven’t won an ODI series against India since 1997.
Nobody anticipated that Sri Lanka would win this ODI series against India. especially considering that India is nearly at full strength and the home team is missing a few of their front-line bowlers. But they have used these slow conditions to perfection and forced the Indian batters to struggle. In the second ODI, Sri Lanka put up a fantastic effort to win by 32 runs after matching the first game.
In this ODI series, Team India has been caught flat-footed. Their batters have demonstrated an uncommon lack of discipline to stay at the wicket when the going gets difficult, and the slow, spinning surfaces have prevented them from hitting across the line.
SL vs IND Team Preview & Squads
Sri Lanka
On another sluggish pitch at the R Premadasa Stadium, Sri Lanka found themselves in a vulnerable position as they batted first, at 136-6. But Wellalage and Mendis’s vital 72-run partnership saved their innings and enabled them to score a tough 240-9. India’s impressive start (97 runs without loss) was then destroyed by Jeffrey Vandersay’s outstanding bowling performance, which limited them to 208 runs.
Although Sri Lanka’s batsmen haven’t amassed a ton of runs, players like Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis, and Avishka Fernando are making significant contributions at the top of the order on this challenging pitch. With his bowling, captain Charith Asalanka has taken the lead early on, capturing six wickets at an economy rate of 3.29.
India has seen a remarkable transformation under the bat and with the ball thanks to Dunith Wellalage. In this series, he has amassed scores of 67* and 39 in addition to taking 2 wickets at 5.33. It is anticipated that the Lankans will select the same eleven since Wanindu Hasaranga is not available. Their spinners are currently on a roll and will provide India’s faltering batters with yet another formidable obstacle.
Leading from the lead, captain Rohit Sharma has smashed two straight fifties at his typical quick speed. Shubman Gill has given him some respectable assistance at the other end, but the middle-order has just disintegrated under duress once the openers have fallen.
India was 75-0 and 97-0 at one stage in the last two ODIs, but they eventually went all out for 230 and 208, respectively. Prominent batsmen such as Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul have not looked confident in their stroke play and have been unable to match Sri Lanka’s spinners on this sluggish track. Nevertheless, these are good players, and we are counting on Rahul or Kohli to play well in the last game, as batters.
With scores of 33 and 44, only all-rounder Axar Patel, who spin bowls, has demonstrated some fight. Additionally, the left-arm spinner has taken three wickets. For the final ODI, Rohit may start Riyan Parag instead of Shivam Dube or Arshdeep Singh. Parag is a fearless middle-order batsman who demonstrated in the T20I series how effective his spin bowling is on these kind of pitches.
Another letdown has been Mohammed Siraj, who was unable to stop the runs in the final overs. If India wants to even the series, they will need Washington Sundar, Axar, and Kuldeep Yadav to have the biggest influence.
In this series at R. Premadasa Stadium, the team batting first won both games and the match. In the final match, both captains will want to bat first because this is the way to play on this surface. On the day of the match, Colombo will see largely cloudy skies with the possibility of a thunderstorm in certain areas. There may be some interruptions to the game, but the entire match should still go on.
The R. Premadasa Stadium’s pitch will be sluggish and continue to have a lot of bounce and spin.
SL vs IND Head-to-Head Stats of Last 5 Matches
India won three times in the last five matches and Sri Lanka won one.
According to cricket analysts, India has a 69% chance of winning.
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